Bernard Lanskey and Stephen Emmerson – pianos.
3pm Sunday 30th March 2025.
Nickson Room, School of Music, Zelman Cowen Building, University of Queensland.
Three graduates from the University of Queensland’s School of Music return decades later to the Nickson Room to present the Australian premiere of a major new work for two pianos.
Composer Andrew Schultz is recognised among the country’s most respected and internationally acclaimed composers. Professor Bernard Lanskey is currently Director of Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University where Stephen Emmerson is an adjunct professor. Bernard and Stephen have been playing piano duos together for many years, and have commissioned, performed and recorded many of Andrew’s compositions, including Nocturnes and Variations, Sea-Change and 12 Variations. The three are delighted to be returning to UQ to present this recent composition, Dark Well.
The work is around an hour’s duration and was commissioned with funds and a residency provided by the Australia Council and the Ukaria Arts Centre. The composer writes:
“This large-scale work explores darkness and emotion, the margins of hearing, and the borderlands of perception and the unconscious. The Dark Well of the title refers both to a physical place and a mental state. The well’s sound-world is narrow but cavernous – echoes are weirdly distorted and impossible to predict. Small sounds can take on vast proportions. Vortices of sound occur as vibrations spiral in asymmetrical pathways. The sound world is now tactile.”
The European premiere performances of this “magically dark composition“ in Czechia in 2023 (given by Martin Smutný and Kateřina Ochmanová) received enthusiastic reviews. The Australian premiere – a unique, immersive experience.
UPDATE: March 2026. The full video of the Brisbane performance of Dark Well is now on YouTube – watch it here. It features video production by Thomas Green.
CLICK on the image below for more YouTube videos about the development of the Dark Well project and the many wonderful artists involved.
More information – click on the links:
DARK WELL Concert Program – UQ performance, 30 March 2025.
Andrew Schultz – Premieres in 2025.
Click here to listen to a recent interview with the composer, including discussion of the new work, Symphony No. 4, is featured in the December 2025, 100% Australian Made podcast with Julie Simonds, 2MBS-FM Fine Music Sydney.
Photo at top of this post by Catherine Zaidova on Unsplash